“Women are supposed to pray inside homes,” Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama (SKJU), a body of Sunni clerics and scholars, on Tuesday reiterated its stand on women entering mosques. The statement by the important Muslim body in Kerala comes after the Supreme Court agreed to hear a plea seeking Muslim women’s entry into mosques.

The SC had admitted a plea filed by a Pune-based Muslim couple. The court had also stated that it will examine the issue ‘only because of the Sabarimala judgement’. SC also sent a notice to the Centre, Waqf Board and the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), regarding the petition.

Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama (SKJU) General Secretary K Alikkutyy Musaliyar on Tuesday said that they cannot accept the court’s intervention in matters pertaining to religion, specifying that they will only follow directions from religious leaders, said a Times of India report. He also said that SKJU had taken a similar stand when Sabarimala verdict came.

“The rule regarding women’s entry to mosques is 1,400 years old and Prophet Muhammed has given us a clarification regarding this. Only men should be allowed to pray inside a mosque,” the Musaliyar said.

Meanwhile, Kanthapuram AP Aboobacker Musliyar, the grand mufti of Sunni-Sufi Muslim community in India and General Secretary of All India Sunni Jamiyyathul Ulama, said that the court should only intervene in religious matters after consulting with religious heads. Kanthapuram was declared as the Grand Mufti last February and was also the first person from south India to be elected for this top position.

“Women go to Mecca mosques as part of performing Hajj and Umrah – the important religious pilgrimage. This need not be extended to other mosques,” said Aboobacker. He also added that only a minority of people who have gone away from fundamentals of Islam and with an extremist thinking, favour women’s entry into mosques.